Morrowind: The Story of Wardenfell
by FallenArchangel3809
Summary: After arriving in a strange land an adventurer is set upon a predetermined quest that will challenge everything he knows, or doesn't know, about himself.
1. Arrival

A voice

A strange landscape.

A language I can't understand.

The moon. It's red..

Wait, no. It's all red..

Dust storm.

Where am I?

The voice... Morrowind...

Chapter One: Arrival

"Wake up"

I hear a voice calling from somewhere.

"Wake up, we're here."

I open my eyes and see someone standing over me.

"You're shaking, are you okay?" asks the stranger. "Stand up, you were dreaming."

Standing up I take a look around. _I'm in a small room inside a ship. Strange, I don't remember anything..._

The man facing me is a Dumner. A dark elf, by common tongue.

He tells me, "I've heard the guards say we've reached Morrowind, I'm sure they'll let us go."

_Morrowind? ...Guard?_

As I turn to ask him what he means, the Dumner says quickly "Quite, here comes the guard."

Not a second later a guard walks to the doorway and says "This is where we get off, come with me."

The guard is wearing steel armor, from the Imperial Legion. _Imperial Legion? How did I know that?_

In a daze I follow the guard as he leads me to a trapdoor. The door leads me to the top of the ship. The air is warm and humid, contrasting that of the ship below. The dark of the night, as well as the fog prevents me from seeing far, but it seems to be a small town we have arrived to, surrounded by swamp.

The guard motions towards the dock. "Head down to the docks and go through the door directly ahead."

I walk across the gangplank and towards the door. A signpost tells me I am at the Seyda Neen Census and Excise Office.

Upon entering the Office I see an older man wearing a light robe sitting next to a table, he sees me and motions me forward.

"Ah yes, we've been expecting you. My name is Socus. You'll have to be recorded before your officially released." He sets a piece f paper on the desk. "Now before I stamp these papers make sure this information is correct."

I quickly search the paper for a name. Dakota.

_Dakota. That's right, how could I forget?_

I can find nothing else, except for that the Dumner was right, I'm in Morrowind.

Without waiting for my reply the man stamps the papers and hands them to me. "Show them to the Captain on your way out, right through the hall on the right." He turns back towards the table before I can ask him any questions.

I walk do the hall and look to the right. It's a small room with little furnishings. Only a shelf and a table. As I walk by the table I see a small dagger, laying on top of a note. Deciding a may need it, considering the circumstances, I decided to take it and tuck it between my belt and my pants.

_Belt? I hadn't even realized what I was wearing._

Looking down I find myself in mere beggars clothes. A small shirt of cheap material, hardly fitting pants, and wooden sandals.

Looking back at the table I take a glance at the note. It's addressed to 'Hriss' from 'Ganciele' Apparently Hriss is tasked with sharpening the blade.

_Great, so that means the blade is worn._

Moving along I start to open the next door when I notice a glow coming from a barrel laying beside it. I find the glow is coming from a ring lying inside. I decide to pocket the ring on my way out.

In the next room I find the Captain to whom I was supposed to deliver the papers. I can immediately tell he is the captain because the furnishings in the rooms, and even the armor and clothes he is wearing is much more extravagant than those I've seen so far.

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something, so I hold the papers I was supposed to send to him up higher.

"Hello, my name is Sellus Gravius," he says as he takes the papers from me, "word of your arrival only reached me yesterday, I am here to welcome you to Morrowind."

"Morrowind?" I ask.

"Yes, you are in Morrowind. I don't know why you are here. Or why you were released from prison and shipped here. But your authorization comes directly from the Emperor Uriel Septim VII Himself. And I ,don't need to know any more than that. When you leave this office, from the door ahead of you, you will be free. But before you go, I have instructions for you. Instructions from the Emperor himself, so pay careful attention."

The captain turns and retrieves a package from his desk, and after a moment, grabs a backpack as well.

"You are to take this package to Caius Cosades, in Balmora. Ask around in the South Wall Cornerclub, they will know where to find him. I also have a letter for you as well. I see you have no way of carrying these, so Ill provide you with a backpack. It's not the best, but you'll have to make do."

I turn and head for the door, then pause to see if he needs anything else. Deciding I'm done here, I walk outside.


	2. Seyda Neen

I take a quick look around me as I exit the captains' room. I see another section of the Census Office in front of me, walls made of stone like the others. To the right leads back to the dock, to the left, the rest of the village. As a turn to the left and begin to walk forward I leave the relative warmth of the building. Although still humid, it's gotten rather cold. _Or maybe I just didn't notice it before._ I think.

To my luck, the building ahead of me seems to be the trade-house. To the left of it sits a small house, identical to the small row of houses on my right. As I make my way towards the small wooden platform leading to the door, I count the coins in the coin-purse that was inside the backpack. I find only 87 drakes. _Not much._

Upon entering the trade-house I am greeted by a warm environment and the smell of food. A very good welcome.

_Food. When had I last ate?_

The man in front of me is an Altmer, or high elf, who seemed to be the owner. I approach him.

"Welcome to Arrille's Tradehouse." he says, "I'm Arrille, publican and Proprietor. Don't take what doesn't belong to you. You're a new face here, If you want to buy from me, just let me know. Or if you want a little advice –Free to new customers, I might add.- just ask.

"A little advice, you say?" I ask him.

"Yes, I see you're new here and, I'm not trying to be rude," he pauses, "but you seem a bit lost. We don't get many visitors here in our swamp, so I'm assuming you're here on an adventure. From the looks of your clothing I'd wager you're new at this, so If I were you, I'd go and look through the cave to the west, it's a good place to get some experience below your belt."

"Thank you," I say, not expecting so much from a simple question. "do you know where I can rent a room?" I ask.

"Up the stairs." he says, and motions toward a hallway to my left.

I thank him and follow the hallway, there are no side doors, so the stairs aren't hard at all to find. Walking up them I enter a small lounge; one that looks more like a bar than anything, minus the alcohol.

There is a small table, adorned with silverware, in a corner close to the stairs, along the far wall is a wooden door. On the opposite corner is a counter, where the waiter is sitting on a stool by a lng counter-table. Beside her are two me conversing with one another. Sitting at the counter is a man by himself. Nearest to me is a man wearing iron, or maybe steel armor. I decide to ask him about it.

"Hello sir," I begin, "are you of the Imperial Guard?"

"No," he tells me in a deep voice, "I am just a wanderer, Hriss Flaflot"

_A wanderer wearing a full set of armor? Hriss? Could it be the one from the note?_

I decide to question him about his armor. "Is armor like that really necessary around here? Not being of the legion? I haven't been here long, but this place doesn't seem like the place to find trouble."

"So you're the one they dropped off at the Census. That means you're new to Morrowind. I can understand your puzzlement now. Look," he pauses, "I don't know where you're from, but Morrowind isn't the safest of all places. Here in Seyda Neen things are pretty laid-back, but once you leave here, you'd better be ready for a hard journey."

_Well this seems like a nice place._

"Thank you for the information, I'll leave you be." I tell him, starting to leave.

"My pleasure, let me know if you have any time, I may be able to help get you situated. It was nice meeting you..." he trails off.

"Dakota" I tell him.

I turn and head towards the waiter, avoiding the others in the room.

"Hi there, my name is Elone, is there something you need?" She asks.

_A lot of things at the moment.._

"Yes, I was wondering how much it costs for a room?"

"Forty drakes" She informs me. "Only one room left, do you want it?"

I purchase the room, as well as food, and she hands me the key. The room is through a small corridor, leading from the door I seen when I first walked up the stairs.

The room has a fireplace on the far wall next to a small chair, a bed and chest on the left and a bare wall on the right with two candles burning. Very basic, but that doesn't bother me.

Laying the backpack on the chair, I sit on the bed and look through he bags contents.

An empty journal and ink sac.

The coin-purse. (Now only containing 47 drakes)

The small ring I found.

The package I'm supposed to deliever.

And directions to Balmora.

I look inside the package and find a scroll. _Strange_ I think _It's written in code, it must be important._

_If it's important_ , why would the emperor trust me to deliver it? Why not send the captain himself?

Why was I released from prison?

Why was I imprisoned in the first place?

Sleep does not come easily...


End file.
